Houston Rockets Let Go Of Trevor Ariza For Courtney Lee

An offseason trade between four NBA teams and five players resulted to the departure of Houston Rockets forward Trevor Ariza and former New Jersey Nets shooting guard Courtney Lee joining the Rockets. It appears to be a cost cutting measure for the Rockets, freeing up $28 million of Ariza’s contract.

The Rockets just re-signed Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry, then picked up Brad Miller from free agency. Now they have a young talented player in Lee for what seems like a good bargain. For a young player who can play three positions, the Rockets are paying Lee $1.35 million this coming season. The team option on Lee in the 2012 season is worth $2.23 million. This is real value for money!

Although Lee is not as good a defender as Ariza, he gives the Rockets more options as he can play both guard positions and on some occasions the small forward as well. Kevin Martin can also take the small forward position too. Shane Battier will continue to defend well from the perimeter.

Overall, the Rockets lost an athletic player in Ariza but they got a young talent in return, for much less money.

Follow us on Twitter to get free up-to-date news via tweets from the World Correspondents, or you can subscribe to us by entering your e-mail below. You can confirm your free subscription by clicking the confirmation link that will be sent to your e-mail address. Once you've confirmed, then you're good to go.